Rules
Each turn starts with 5 dice. Roll them all.
- Any die showing a 2 or 5 is dead - removed for the rest of the turn.
- If any die died this throw, the entire throw scores 0.
- If none died, score the sum of all dice.
Either way, re-roll the survivors. Continue until all 5 are dead.
Highest total over 3 rounds wins.
History
Drop Dead is an old folk dice game, sometimes published in collections under names like “2-and-5” or “Drop Dead Dice”. It’s a pure-luck game built around a brutal kicker: a single bad die voids everything else on the throw, so a five-die roll showing four 6s and a single 2 scores nothing.
The expected value per turn is surprisingly low - the death spiral compounds, and zero-score throws are common. Big swings are part of the charm.
References